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And, unfortunately, the problems don’t end there—ChatGPT also serves up middle-of-the-road content, and charges you a fair whack for the privilege. Can you get the same (or better) functionality from a different AI tool? I think so. I am currently…Read more ›View the full article

These are the 100 most expensive keywords on Google Ads, along with their monthly search volume and cost per click (CPC). The main reason is due to Google’s ads mechanism: Companies have to outbid each other in order to secure…Read more ›View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. CEO shared family trip photos after announcing budget cuts We just had a company-wide town hall, and the CEO — whom I’ve always known to be even-tempered and generally reasonable — kicked things off by sharing a recap and photos of his recent Disney World trip with 20 family members. This comes shortly after we were told about budget cuts, no bonuses, and rising health insurance costs that are eating into our modest merit increases. Needless to say, vacations aren’t exactly top of mind for most of us right now. Was this tone-deaf? Or am I overreacting? It was tone-deaf. Most people have no interest in seeing the CEO’s family trip photos at the best of times! Displaying the photos at all is weirdly self-centered for a town hall. But doing it right after announcing bad financial news is astonishingly out of touch. 2. Struggling new hire won’t stop aggressively complimenting our work I work in a 30-person department in a much larger 10,000-person organization. The department is divided into several smaller teams with individual supervisors and team leads in addition to the more junior folk, and I’m the departmental manager. We have a recent hire who is struggling performance wise. We have them on a PIP and are doing all we need to there. Some of the areas of improvement are really, really basic (and this is not an entry-level position) like “respond to colleagues’ email questions” and don’t no-show meetings. They don’t have much in the way of skills yet in the position either. I share this for context, that this employment relationship is really not going well. They also don’t have much grasp of organizational norms like not asking the CEO for direction on a project directly in the bathroom. Yet this person loves to give work-related compliments. Daily “I’m so impressed by the quality of your work on this project” type of comments to me, who is more senior and decades more experienced than them. “I am struck by how passionate and hard-working this team is. Well done” after their colleagues have completed a project they had nothing to do with. Occasionally, this is peppered with unasked for, lengthy feedback on projects they had nothing to do with, with wacky suggestions for improvement. These have been easier to deal with directly. The compliments, however, appear awkward for folks on the receiving end. I’ve noticed the immediate team barely responds anymore. It feels like this is the individual’s attempt to dominate and exert authority in areas where, frankly, they have no subject knowledge. How would you respond? “Thank you, I appreciate that.” That’s it. It’s possible that it’s an attempt to assert authority where they have none (the unsolicited feedback on projects they’re not involved with certainly sounds like that), but it’s also possible that they know they’re flailing and are looking for some way to better enmesh with the team / be liked / contribute something people will appreciate. It’s the wrong way to do it, but I’d look at it as an additional facet of the incompetence you’re seeing in other areas. They’re not reading situations well, they probably sense that on some level, and they’re trying to fix it … just badly. If they were otherwise a promising employee and the inappropriate compliments were affecting their working relationships or the way they were perceived, it would be a kindness to talk to them about it. But since this is the least of the issues you’ve got to tackle with this person, a quick “thanks, appreciate it” is the way to go. 3. Calling out your company on social media Last week Meta announced some changes to their free speech policies, including some quite awful examples of posts they will now allow, which include things like calling immigrants “dirt” and describing homosexuality as a mental illness. I don’t work for Meta, but I saw a post from a connection of a connection on LinkedIn who does work there. She’s written a long and (in my view) well-argued post, criticizing the new policy and outlining the harm to marginalized communities, including the LGBT+ community she’s a member of. Frankly I wish more people were as brave as her in calling out the terrible practices of their companies. She has not put anything about her intention to leave, but my question is: is someone working for an organization as big and as politically influential as Meta risking their job by publicly criticizing their company on an issue like this? In my view it’s not the same as airing your office’s dirty laundry — it’s not like she’s posting about her boss Gary who she’s fallen out with. And these are major changes that will likely affect her community, maybe her personal online safety, and are quite obviously politically driven. But of course she is calling into question the wisdom of her organization’s leadership and the decisions of her colleagues, even if they are people she doesn’t know personally. What do you think? Yes, there’s some risk to her job. Not necessarily the “call you into HR and fire you today” kind of risk, but the risk that she’ll be more likely to end up on lay-off lists? Or not be promoted into a higher-level position she might want at some point? Absolutely. (In theory there’s also the “fire you today” kind of risk, but she hopefully has enough of a read on the politics of her workplace to know whether that’s likely or not.) It’s also true that the larger the company and the more they’re used to being part of the public dialogue (as Meta is, and especially right now), the more they’re probably used to these kinds of internal discussions playing out publicly and the less jarring it may feel internally. 4. My boss calls me, and only me, by my last name I have been employed at my current company for 20+ years. My manager and I share the same first name. In one-on-one conversations or emails, he refers to me by my first name. In all other instances, he calls me by my last name. Others are starting to pick up on this during team meetings and they do the same. He only does this to me — everyone else is on a first name basis. It makes me feel disrespected. What is a good way to tell him this bothers me? And should it bother me? I don’t know that he’s doing it to disrespect you, but you’re allowed to prefer being called by your first name! My guess is that because you share a name, he might be trying to distinguish between the two of you. Obviously when he’s the one speaking, it’ll be obvious that when he says Lucien, he’s referring to the Lucien who is not him (unless he has a habit of talking about himself in the third person). But maybe he’s hoping that if he uses your last name, others will pick up on it (as they are) and it will cut down on confusion about which Lucien is being referenced when others talk. I don’t know — just a guess. Regardless, you can absolutely say to him, “I noticed you often call me Mackelberry instead of Lucien. I really prefer Lucien.” View the full article

Projects are expensive. There are labor costs, material costs, overhead and operational costs. When a contractor bids on a construction project or a manufacturer takes on a job, they need to have an accurate forecast of the price for the project to make a profit, which is why job costing is so important. Making accurate estimates of construction costs requires an understanding of job costing, knowing what a job cost sheet is and what needs to be included in that costing sheet. We’ll go over all, plus explain when to use job order costing and provide an example of a job cost sheet to make sure the definition is clear. What Is Job Costing? Job costing or job order costing, is a type of cost accounting method that helps identify project costs and track them to keep to your project budget. It tracks all costs and revenue associated with a particular project and is commonly used in construction projects, but it can also be found in manufacturing, engineering, retail, logistics, healthcare and more. When doing job costing for a project, you’ll break down your project costs into three areas: labor, materials and equipment or overhead costs. We’ll get into more detail on that in a moment. The goal is to clearly understand the profit or loss related to each project by looking at the cost of each piece of the project, which allows managers to track the profitability of each. Using job costing can also help future projects. By looking back at past estimates and comparing them to actual costs, you can make more accurate estimates when planning for a similar project. Job costing can help managers identify inefficiencies and excess costs that can be addressed by automating work or allocating resources better. Project management software can help you plan, schedule and track your project costs. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software with multiple project views that let you plan costs and resources on Gantt charts, track workflow on kanban boards and allow teams to execute their work on task lists. When a project is planned on a Gantt, set a baseline to capture your planned costs and compare them to actual costs in real time so you can track your expenses and keep to your budget. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. /wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Manufacturing-gantt-chart-light-mode-costs-exposed-cta-e1712005286389-1600x659.jpgProjectManager’s Gantt charts plan, manage and track project costs. Learn more What Is a Job Cost Sheet? A costing sheet lists all the component costs for a project. The pricing is done per unit and often shows the cost of that component from a previous project so they can be compared. The costing sheet will then add the final cost of the project. As noted above, this can be applied to a number of different projects but is also found when manufacturing distinctive products. It’s a good fit for businesses that provide specialized goods or expensive projects, such as computers and automobiles. /wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Job-cost-sheet-template-featured-image.jpg Get your free Job Cost Sheet Template Use this free Job Cost Sheet Template for Excel to manage your projects better. Download Excel File Benefits of using a costing sheet include that they show the product’s production cost overall as well as the unit costs. In terms of manufacturing, they can help keep product costs under control. They also help develop product policy and aid in the decision-making on product pricing. And, as noted, helps managers compare costs to past outcomes and benchmark costs. What Should Be Included in a Job Cost Sheet? Here are the most important components of a job cost sheet for construction, manufacturing and other similar industries that utilize the job costing method. 1. Job Information The job cost sheet should include general information about the job, which helps construction firms manage their job cost sheet archives. Job number Client details Job description Start and end dates 2. Direct Labor Costs Direct labor costs are the costs of the salaries of all the employees that are directly related to the execution and management of the job. Labor costs are calculated by multiplying the daily payroll rate for each employee by the number of days they’re working on a specific job. Employee hourly pay rate Hours worked Role description 3. Direct Materials Costs Direct material costs are generated by all the materials, components and other tangible elements that’ll be used for the execution of the scope of work and can be traced such as wood, concrete, cement or glass. When measuring direct material costs it’s important to include the following details. Measurement unit Item quantity Unit cost 4. Overhead Costs Overhead costs in manufacturing or consturction are not directly related to the job but refer to costs that allow a business to operate, such as rent, utilities and other business expenses that can’t be considered direct labor or direct materials. To find them, break down daily operating costs and then attribute the correct proportion to the project. Because this is a difficult figure to discern, companies will often apply an overhead fee to each project of 10 percent of the job. 5. Direct Equipment Costs Direct equipment costs in job order costing refer to the expenses directly tied to the use of equipment on a specific project. These may include: Equipment purchase or lease Operating costs such as fuel or maintenance costs Wages and benefits paid to the workers who are operating the equipment 6. Subcontractor Costs Subcontractor costs are those incurred by a general contractor when they hire external companies or individuals to execute certain parts of the construction project. These may include things like labor costs, materials provided to the subcontractor, equipment costs or overhead costs like legal fees or project management fees. 7. Profit Margin Another part of a job cost sheet is the profit margin. This is the percentage of profit that the company will make on the project. To calculate the profit margin: Subtract the total project costs including labor, materials, equipment, overhead, etc. from the total revenue Divide the gross profit (revenue minus costs) by the total revenue The profit margin is essential for determining how profitable a project is and allows the business to make informed decisions moving forward. 8. Planned Costs vs. Actual Costs Comparison In a construction project, planned costs refer to the expenses that were budgeted for a particular project. These may include labor, equipment, materials, overhead, etc. The actual costs include the real expenses incurred during the project. These may differ from the planned costs due to unexpected issues, changes in scope, market fluctuations or inefficiencies. Be sure to include this information in the job cost sheet. Job Costing Example To better understand job costing, let’s move from the abstract to a practical example. We’ll make up a simple construction job, say, Acme Construction, which has been hired to dig a hole and lay the concrete for the foundation of a building. The first thing is to figure out labor costs. There will be the crew making the foundation pit. That’s five people at $100 a day per person, with a duration of three days to make the hole. Next comes the cement crew. Again, this is a five-person job at $100 per day per person, with a duration of two days. Labor, therefore has a total of $2,500. Next, we have to look at materials. Concrete will cost $1,000. There’s also the excavator to dig the hole and the cement truck to deliver and dispose of the cement. Rentals for these two machines add up to $1,000. Therefore, material costs are $2,000 To calculate the overhead costs, we’ll spitball the figure at 10 percent of our project total, which is $4,500. That gives us an overhead cost of $450. That means our job will cost $4,950. Here’s what the cost sheet for this simple project should look like. /wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Job-cost-sheet-example.png Job Cost Sheet Template To streamline a job cost sheet, download our free job cost sheet template. This is a versatile template that provides a structured framework for tracking and managing the expenses tied to a specific project or job. /wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Job-Cost-Sheet-Template-600x495.png When to Use Job Costing As we’ve mentioned, job costing is a cost accounting method that’s used in virtually every industry that manages projects. Therefore, managers use job costing in a variety of disciplines. Let’s look at three of the more commonly used job-costing industries: project management, construction and manufacturing. Job Costing in Project Management Project management is a discipline that crosses many fields. It’s a methodology for delivering a project and costs are one of the most important aspects of that management. Job costing is often used to help estimate costs on a project, but also to help track the project to ensure that there’s no overspending. This is done through the job costing technique of comparing the planned costs against the actual costs. If a project is going over budget, then either the scope or the time must be adjusted unless additional funding can be secured. Construction Job Costing Job costing is often found in construction where it’s used to accurately track all costs associated with the job. As we’ve noted, that includes labor, material and overhead costs. It starts by getting a detailed breakdown of the entire project, which allows managers to track expenses and calculate future profitability. By quickly identifying expenses that cut into profits, construction contractors can rectify the problem and save their profit margin. Manufacturing Job Costing Again, in manufacturing, job costing plays the same important role. It adds the labor, materials and overhead for each job to make sure that production costs are correct. As in construction, this allows the company to measure profitability and hit targets for margin. It also allows them to benchmark themselves against the competition to uncover areas that can be improved and make them more competitive. Using job costing in manufacturing also helps plan budgets and operating expenses over the long term. Advantages of Job Costing If you’re on the fence about using a job cost sheet, we’ve provided some advantages to consider below. Helps Determine the Profitability of a Job or Project Before a project is considered successful, its profitability needs to be considered. Job costing tracks and analyzes all project costs which helps with accurate cost tracking. As a result, project stakeholders can calculate the total project cost, determine the gross profit and determine the profit margin. It enables businesses to make informed decisions and improve their overall financial performance. Allows to Detect Cost Overruns Job cost sheets also identify cost overruns in various ways. For one, it compares the actual costs to the budgeted costs for each cost category. If actual costs are more than the budgeted amounts, it identifies a potential cost overrun. Project managers can detect cost overruns early to take corrective action accordingly. Facilitates Cost Allocation, Tracking and Control A final benefit of job order costing is accurate cost allocation, tracking and control. Job costing systems record all project expenses and help prevent cost overruns by comparing actual costs to the budget. In other words, it provides insights into project costs so businesses can improve efficiency, control expenses and improve their profitability. Disadvantages of Job Costing While the advantages of job order costing are clear, there are also some disadvantages to consider. Time-Consuming Process Job costing requires that all materials, labor hours and overhead for each individual job must be tracked. This means teams are spending time on documenting costs, maintaining records and putting together reports. Limited Scalability A job cost sheet is the most impactful for customized, one-off jobs or smaller projects. If a business needs to scale up to mass production or handle many jobs at once, job costing isn’t practical. Complex Overhead Allocation Overhead costs such as administrative expenses or rent are shared across jobs and need to be allocated using a predetermined method. It can be difficult to choose and implement the ideal allocation basis such as labor or machine hours. As a result, some jobs may be overburdened or undercharged. ProjectManager Helps Keep Track of Project Costs Job costing gets you a figure for the estimated cost of the project and that figure can then be used to track your costs and revenue throughout the project with project management software. ProjectManager is award-winning project management software that lets you plan, manage and track your project costs in real time. Use our Gantt charts to plan your costs and view the whole project on a visual timeline. Link all four dependencies to avoid costly bottlenecks and set the baseline to track costs in real time throughout the software. Track Labor Costs With Online Timesheets When teams log their hours in the software, management isn’t only getting secure timesheets that streamline the payroll process but another tool to track time and costs. Our timesheets help managers control labor costs and help with project estimates by looking at timesheets from previous projects. Timesheets can automatically log hours and give managers a window into the percentage of tasks their team has completed in real time. This helps managers spot issues and keep projects on track, both in terms of schedule and cost. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/timesheet-lightmode-good-version-lots-of-tasks-1600x869.png Monitor Budgets With Real-Time Dashboards Once a baseline is set on the Gantt chart, live data is delivered to the real-time dashboard and six project metrics are displayed in easy-to-read graphs and charts. There’s a cost chart that allows managers to get a high-level view of their budget, including the planned and actual costs so they can respond accordingly if the project is spending beyond what’s been allocated. Unlike other project management tools, there’s no time-consuming setup required with our software. It’s plug-and-play. If you want to get more details toggle over to our customizable status, portfolio and more reports. Filter the report to see only what you want and it’s easy to share to update stakeholders. /wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Dashboard-light-mode-1600x857.jpg There are other features to help you stay on budget, such as resource management tools that allow you to keep your team’s workload balanced so they can work at capacity and stay productive. Risk management features allow you to identify risks and track issues until they’re resolved. There are also task management features, automated workflow with task approvals to ensure quality deliverables and much more. Alternative Methods to Job Costing Other cost accounting methods can be used instead of job costing when measuring the cost of jobs and projects. The most commonly used alternatives to job costing are process costing, activity-based costing, batch costing and contract costing. The sections below explain the differences between these approaches. Job Costing vs. Process Costing We’ve talked a lot about job costing, but to sum up, it’s an accounting method of tracking all costs and revenue associated with a project. There’s also something called process costing, but it’s a different accounting method and it’s important to understand the difference between the two, Process costing is also an accounting method, but it’s deployed when there’s mass production of similar products by collecting and assigning manufacturing costs to the units produced. Unlike job costing which is used in customized manufacturing, process costing is used in standardized or mass-produced manufacturing. With job costing, the cost of each complete job is done. In process costing, the cost is determined by the process and the production budget. The cost calculation for process costing is based on the process, not the job, as in job costing. Another difference is that costs can’t be transferred in job costing, but that can be across processes in process costing. Also, each job is different in job costing, but process costing is about projects produced in large volumes. Job Costing vs. Activity-Based Costing When comparing job costing and activity-based costing, job costing is typically simpler and suitable for many businesses while ABC used a refined approach based on activities. While activity-based coaching is more accurate, it requires more effort to implement and maintain over time. Job Costing vs. Batch Costing Job costing is used when each job has unique characteristics and jobs need to be tracked individually. Batch costing, on the other hand, is used when products are made in groups with similar characteristics and the focus is on tracking costs for the batch. Job Costing vs. Contract Costing If the project is smaller or shorter-term, job costing is more suitable as costs are tracked for each individual job. If the project is large and long-term, contract costing is preferred as it considers the unique challenges of revenue recognition and potential losses or profits. ProjectManager is online project management software that connects teams across departments and time zones, allowing them to share files, comment at the task level and more. Our software allows managers to plan, manage and track more than costs but every aspect of their budget. Join teams at companies such as Avis, Nestle and Siemens who are using our tool to succeed. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. The post What Is Job Costing? How to Make a Job Cost Sheet (Example Included) appeared first on ProjectManager. 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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: I work at a barbershop that’s under the booth rent model, so I’m a sole proprietor. How do I professionally tell people to stop coming in sick/bringing in their sick kids? Should I display a sign at my station as well? I don’t understand how a haircut is so important when you’re sick. Not only do I hate how being sick feels, I live with my 86-year-old grandfather and it’s not in my agenda to get him sick. It’s also very inconvenient and puts my job at risk because of having to reschedule clients. I had a parent bring their super sick kid in on Christmas Eve. He sat in the front the entire time, but was there for a while because I cut the dad and brother’s hair too. The kids came in halfway through dad’s haircut, so I felt obligated to finish his haircut and the other brother wasn’t visibly sick so it put me in a weird spot where I felt I could only turn down the one. Ideally, I wouldn’t have cut any of their hair, but people just don’t seem to have any consideration for others. It’s happened to me so many times this past year. Honestly, if people come in sick I think it’s fair to refuse service and charge a no-show fee. Even if they gave me 10-minute notice and just let me know they were sick, I wouldn’t charge. I don’t know if that’s how it works though. I’m just tired of people getting me sick. It has happened so many times recently, and it’s almost always from kids. The easiest way to handle this is when people are making appointments. Whoever takes those appointments should reiterate your policies before ending the call: “We ask that you reschedule if you’re sick or anyone coming with you is sick. Please call if that happens and we’ll get you rescheduled.” If people schedule online, have a similar policy posted there. Hell, there’s scheduling software that will require clients to check a box confirming they’ve read and agree to follow the policy before the appointment can be confirmed. If you happen to be the sort of barbershop that has an email list of clients and/or social media, you could also advertise this policy there. It won’t reach everyone, but it’ll help to get people thinking about it. Whether you have the ability to do any of these things as a sole proprietor in a shop you don’t own is a different question. But I’d bet you have colleagues who would add their voices to yours in pushing for it. You’ll still probably get clients who come in sick or with a sick kid anyway, because people are inconsiderate. In those cases, are you willing to say, “I’m sorry but I can’t do the appointment while you’re sick/with a sick child here — I have to be careful because I have an at-risk family member. Let’s get you rescheduled”? If you want to offer a discount for the rescheduled appointment, that would help from a client relations perspective, but you don’t have to. For the sake of thoroughness: you will probably lose some clients over this. Some people will be outraged that they showed up and are getting turned away (although that’s less likely if you warn them about the policy when scheduling them). So you’ll have to decide if you’re okay with that. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. Just a heads-up that Ask a Manager is on Bluesky in case you’re over there: bsky.app/profile/askamanager.org If you’ve been considering trying Bluesky but haven’t made the leap: I really like it. It has a lot of the stuff that used to be great about Twitter before it imploded, plus cool features like being able to mute posts with particular keywords (so if you just can’t handle hearing anything about llamas this week, you can eradicate them from your feed), there are cool “starter packs” (so if you want to quickly follow a bunch of people who post about science or linguistics or yarn or cats or whatever your interest is, you can just subscribe to the relevant starter pack), you can have your chronological timeline back without an algorithm overruling your choices about your feed, the engagement is more interesting, and so far it’s just … nicer. View the full article

Don’t assume they know how good you have it. By Marc Rosenberg CPA Firm Staff: Managing Your #1 Asset Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

Don’t assume they know how good you have it. By Marc Rosenberg CPA Firm Staff: Managing Your #1 Asset Go PRO for members-only access to more Marc Rosenberg. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Utopia for a proactive accounting professional is a diary filled with appointments to meet with prospective ideal clients.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

Today's Bissett Bullet: “Utopia for a proactive accounting professional is a diary filled with appointments to meet with prospective ideal clients.” By Martin Bissett See more Bissett Bullets here Go PRO for members-only access to more Martin Bissett. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. Let’s talk about malicious compliance — times when someone purposely exposed the absurdity of a rule by doing exactly what they were told to do. For example: “I had a boss who needed to know via email every. single. time. we stepped away from our computers (we were all fully remote). So I decided to comply 100% with her request. I told her when I’m using the restroom, that I had to put cream in my coffee, that I’m going to put on a sweater because I’m cold, I’m about to open my living room blinds, you get the point. Others did that too and after like two weeks, she said we no longer have to notify her unless it’s going to be over 15 minutes.” • • • “I worked for a company that insisted we wear our teal-colored polo shirts at all times. They only did up to a Large. I am NOT a Large, I am a short, hairy, fat, apple-shaped stud muffin (male). OK, be like that. So I wore the one they got me. The squeamish can stop reading now. Basically the stretchy fabric stretched and showed the spare tires, it didn’t cover the bottom of my belly, my moobs were prominent, and it even had chest hair poking through the fabric. Finishing work that very day, I was asked not to wear it and to wear my usual shirt.” • • • “I work in engineering and had a program manager, Todd, who had risen through the ranks on his ‘business savvy,’ which turned out to mean ‘bullying every young engineer on his team and relentlessly cutting corners on quality.’ He came by my desk on Tuesday and asked me to run a test by Friday. Not only would this have been a crazy workload, but it was logistically impossible – the required parts to run the test wouldn’t show up for a week. (Think like, running a test of how quickly a car can stop … without installing the brake pads.) Todd sends me an email that says, ‘I think of you as someone who is committed to the success of our project, and I would hate to change that impression. Unfortunately, that is not a delay we can absorb. I have you penciled into this meeting with [Big Boss] on Monday to report the results of the completed test.’ So I’m like, okay, you know what? Fuck you, Todd. I confirm via email that he wants me to run the test without brake pads and he says yes. I bust ass to run the test without brake pads on Friday and of course it fails miserably. I send a picture of the literal debris to him on the same email chain and go immediately to happy hour. Monday morning I come in to an angry ‘we need to get to the bottom of this failure’ email from Todd. I ignore it. Straight to the meeting with the big boss. I’m like, ‘Hey guys, I’m so sorry but I haven’t had time to pull together a slide deck since the test was just run on Friday afternoon. I do have some pictures and schedule updates to share, so Todd do you mind actually pulling up that email chain?’ I explain what happened in the most neutral way possible. Big boss is immediately like … ‘Wait, WTF, why didn’t we wait for the brake pads and do this right?’ I respond that decision was direction from the program rather than a technical decision, so Todd would be better positioned to speak to it. Sweet revenge. He never asked me to cut corners again, and ended up leaving ‘for another opportunity’ like six weeks later.” • • • Share your stories of malicious compliance — your own or other people’s — in the comment section! View the full article

CEO says it’s about investing in tech & talent. Accounting ARC With Donny Shimamoto Center for Accounting Transformation Go PRO for members-only access to more Center for Accounting Transformation. View the full article

CEO says it’s about investing in tech & talent. Accounting ARC With Donny Shimamoto Center for Accounting Transformation Go PRO for members-only access to more Center for Accounting Transformation. View the full article

As a freelancer, you might have clients request services from you that you can’t deliver. However, plenty of other freelancers could offer that service. Enter cross-referrals and professional networks for freelancers, which allow you to refer clients to other freelancers with different skill sets. Partnering with others who have complementary skills allows you to offer broader services to clients and build lasting relationships that benefit everyone involved. Benefits of a Diversified Freelance NetworkBuilding a diversified freelance network can help you grow your business by expanding the value you provide to clients. By partnering with freelancers who have skills that are complementary to yours, you can count on each other to meet the needs of clients who contact you, leading to more value for clients. Here are the key benefits: Increased client retention: When you can recommend trusted collaborators for additional services, clients will know you have a reliable network of people who offer what they need, making them more likely to stay with you. This trust strengthens long-term relationships.Improved client satisfaction: Clients appreciate seamless access to multiple services through a single point of contact. This one-stop-shop experience builds trust and encourages repeat business.More robust service offerings: Partnering with freelancers who specialize in areas you don’t, such as design, SEO, or development, allows you to offer clients the solutions they need from other experts without overextending yourself.Consistent client pipeline: A strong network and referral system can benefit you and other freelancers. Just as you make referrals for freelancers in your network, your connections also recommend you to their clients, keeping your workload steady even during slower periods.Opportunities for growth: Working with others allows you to learn from their expertise, improve your skills, and explore new projects that wouldn’t have been possible alone.Identifying Complementary Skills and Potential PartnersFreelancers often work in specialized niches, and identifying complementary skills can help you find other specialists to add to your network. Start by assessing your expertise and the gaps in your service. For example, if you’re a writer, think about skills that enhance your work, such as design, web development, or SEO. Or, if you’re a photographer, you might partner with freelancers offering social media or marketing services. Consider using a strategy canvas to map out your skill offerings compared to others in the market. This visual exercise helps you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for collaboration. For instance, say your analysis reveals that your content creation skills stand out, but you lack expertise in digital advertising. In that case, it may make sense to partner with a marketing specialist. By clearly seeing where your offerings align or differ from others, you can pinpoint areas where partnerships could fill gaps and make your services more competitive. Another approach to try is to is to evaluate the types of requests you frequently receive but cannot fulfill alone. If clients often ask for branding support, consider collaborating with graphic designers or brand strategists. Similarly, developers could partner with UX designers to create seamless digital experiences. Leveraging strategic partnerships as a freelancer requires effort, but it’s worth it. Attend networking events to meet other professionals in your industry. Engage in online communities like Reddit or industry-specific Facebook groups to connect with peers. Platforms like LinkedIn and Alignable can also help you identify skilled freelancers. Keep a running list of potential partners, including their specialties and contact information, so you’re prepared when referral opportunities arise. Building and Nurturing Mutually Beneficial RelationshipsAsking for help can be powerful, especially in freelancing. It can strengthen your connections to the freelance world and build trust between you, other freelancers, and clients. But it relies on building strong connections that are mutually beneficial. Approach potential freelance partners with a collaborative mindset to build valuable, long-term relationships. Other freelancers should know they’re getting as much out of their connection with you as you do. Focus on the mutual benefits of a partnership, highlighting how working together can expand each other’s offerings and provide greater value to clients. To connect with a potential freelance partner, start by reaching out with a clear and genuine message. Introduce yourself, explain what you admire about their work, and suggest specific ways you could collaborate to benefit both of your businesses. Once you establish partnerships, work on nurturing those connections. Share each other’s work on social media or in newsletters to boost visibility. Co-marketing initiatives, like offering bundled services or writing joint case studies, can showcase your partnership’s value. Regular check-ins — whether monthly emails or quick video calls — help maintain clear communication and alignment. Over time, these practices could lead to increased freelance business referrals from your network. Just be sure to return the favor. Setting Up a Cross-Referral SystemA well-organized referral system can streamline collaboration between you and other freelancers and ensure clients receive high-quality service. To stay accountable, create a referral agreement with your partners. This agreement should outline expectations, such as how to make referrals, any fees or commissions involved, and the level of communication required. Then, develop standard communication templates for introducing clients to your referral partners to ensure professionalism and consistency. Include key details about the client’s needs and why your partner is a good fit. Make sure you fully understand your partners’ expertise and working style. Discuss client expectations in advance to avoid miscommunication. Sharing work samples or setting up a quick meeting to align your referral approaches can prevent surprises. Freelancing Success Through CollaborationBuilding partnerships with complementary freelancers can expand your services, improve client satisfaction, and open doors to new opportunities. Cross-referrals create a reliable network that benefits both you and your clients. Through genuine collaboration with the right freelancers, you can strengthen your freelance business and satisfy more clients. View the full article

As a freelancer, you might have clients request services from you that you can’t deliver. However, plenty of other freelancers could offer that service. Enter cross-referrals and professional networks for freelancers, which allow you to refer clients to other freelancers with different skill sets. Partnering with others who have complementary skills allows you to offer broader services to clients and build lasting relationships that benefit everyone involved. Benefits of a Diversified Freelance NetworkBuilding a diversified freelance network can help you grow your business by expanding the value you provide to clients. By partnering with freelancers who have skills that are complementary to yours, you can count on each other to meet the needs of clients who contact you, leading to more value for clients. Here are the key benefits: Increased client retention: When you can recommend trusted collaborators for additional services, clients will know you have a reliable network of people who offer what they need, making them more likely to stay with you. This trust strengthens long-term relationships.Improved client satisfaction: Clients appreciate seamless access to multiple services through a single point of contact. This one-stop-shop experience builds trust and encourages repeat business.More robust service offerings: Partnering with freelancers who specialize in areas you don’t, such as design, SEO, or development, allows you to offer clients the solutions they need from other experts without overextending yourself.Consistent client pipeline: A strong network and referral system can benefit you and other freelancers. Just as you make referrals for freelancers in your network, your connections also recommend you to their clients, keeping your workload steady even during slower periods.Opportunities for growth: Working with others allows you to learn from their expertise, improve your skills, and explore new projects that wouldn’t have been possible alone.Identifying Complementary Skills and Potential PartnersFreelancers often work in specialized niches, and identifying complementary skills can help you find other specialists to add to your network. Start by assessing your expertise and the gaps in your service. For example, if you’re a writer, think about skills that enhance your work, such as design, web development, or SEO. Or, if you’re a photographer, you might partner with freelancers offering social media or marketing services. Consider using a strategy canvas to map out your skill offerings compared to others in the market. This visual exercise helps you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for collaboration. For instance, say your analysis reveals that your content creation skills stand out, but you lack expertise in digital advertising. In that case, it may make sense to partner with a marketing specialist. By clearly seeing where your offerings align or differ from others, you can pinpoint areas where partnerships could fill gaps and make your services more competitive. Another approach to try is to is to evaluate the types of requests you frequently receive but cannot fulfill alone. If clients often ask for branding support, consider collaborating with graphic designers or brand strategists. Similarly, developers could partner with UX designers to create seamless digital experiences. Leveraging strategic partnerships as a freelancer requires effort, but it’s worth it. Attend networking events to meet other professionals in your industry. Engage in online communities like Reddit or industry-specific Facebook groups to connect with peers. Platforms like LinkedIn and Alignable can also help you identify skilled freelancers. Keep a running list of potential partners, including their specialties and contact information, so you’re prepared when referral opportunities arise. Building and Nurturing Mutually Beneficial RelationshipsAsking for help can be powerful, especially in freelancing. It can strengthen your connections to the freelance world and build trust between you, other freelancers, and clients. But it relies on building strong connections that are mutually beneficial. Approach potential freelance partners with a collaborative mindset to build valuable, long-term relationships. Other freelancers should know they’re getting as much out of their connection with you as you do. Focus on the mutual benefits of a partnership, highlighting how working together can expand each other’s offerings and provide greater value to clients. To connect with a potential freelance partner, start by reaching out with a clear and genuine message. Introduce yourself, explain what you admire about their work, and suggest specific ways you could collaborate to benefit both of your businesses. Once you establish partnerships, work on nurturing those connections. Share each other’s work on social media or in newsletters to boost visibility. Co-marketing initiatives, like offering bundled services or writing joint case studies, can showcase your partnership’s value. Regular check-ins — whether monthly emails or quick video calls — help maintain clear communication and alignment. Over time, these practices could lead to increased freelance business referrals from your network. Just be sure to return the favor. Setting Up a Cross-Referral SystemA well-organized referral system can streamline collaboration between you and other freelancers and ensure clients receive high-quality service. To stay accountable, create a referral agreement with your partners. This agreement should outline expectations, such as how to make referrals, any fees or commissions involved, and the level of communication required. Then, develop standard communication templates for introducing clients to your referral partners to ensure professionalism and consistency. Include key details about the client’s needs and why your partner is a good fit. Make sure you fully understand your partners’ expertise and working style. Discuss client expectations in advance to avoid miscommunication. Sharing work samples or setting up a quick meeting to align your referral approaches can prevent surprises. Freelancing Success Through CollaborationBuilding partnerships with complementary freelancers can expand your services, improve client satisfaction, and open doors to new opportunities. Cross-referrals create a reliable network that benefits both you and your clients. Through genuine collaboration with the right freelancers, you can strengthen your freelance business and satisfy more clients. View the full article

You can sell your products online in many marketplaces, and all these platforms benefit from SEO. From improving your photos to writing better product descriptions, on-page SEO is key if you want your product listings to rank in search. Table of contents What is marketplace SEO? On-page SEO for marketplaces Optimizing images Create great titles and meta descriptions Writing great product descriptions Using product specifications properly Implementing Schema markup Use Yoast SEO for Shopify Conclusion to marketplace SEO What is marketplace SEO? Marketplace SEO is about making a platform with many sellers — like Airbnb, Etsy, or Amazon — easy to find on search engines. It means improving product details, organizing the site well, and using customer reviews and content. Optimizing the listings on these platforms helps more people find the products and increases sales for everyone involved. For instance, Etsy gives store owners plenty of options to improve their product listings by writing detailed product descriptions or adding great images. As a result, every well-optimized, handcrafted item ranks in the search results. Similarly, Airbnb allows property owners to update their listings with local keywords so that they appear when users search for accommodations in specific areas. Effective marketplace SEO means that when someone searches for “vintage leather bags,” Etsy listings are among the top results. Or when a traveler looks for “secluded cabin in Vermont,” Airbnb’s optimized listings pop up. The result, of course, is to quickly connect marketplace buyers and sellers. An Airbnb listing appearing in a Google search for a key term On-page SEO for marketplaces You can use on-page SEO as a tool for marketplace SEO. Doing so directly impacts how easily potential customers find your listings. Take the time to optimize elements like titles, descriptions, and images. Ultimately, you’ll find that your marketplace listings will be more visible in search results. This visibility, of course, should hopefully lead to more clicks and more sales. When each page is optimized correctly, search engines better understand your content, which improves your rankings. This means your marketplace appears in front of the right audience at the right time. Optimizing images For marketplace SEO, you need good images to capture attention and show the quality of your products. If possible, make sure that your images are high-resolution and professionally shot. All your images should be relevant and showcase the product from more than one angle to give buyers a good feel for it. Add clear alt text like “handmade ceramic mug” to make your images more accessible and to help search engines recognize what the image shows. This improves the SEO of your marketplace listings and makes them more appealing to users who use speech-based browsers. Don’t forget to optimize the image itself. Compress files to maintain quality while reducing load times, as slow-loading images can drive users away. Tools like Squoosh can help with compression without losing quality. Ensure file names are descriptive and include keywords where appropriate, such as “organic-cotton-shirt.jpg,” to boost search visibility further. Great photography and branding make your products stand out Create great titles and meta descriptions Titles and meta descriptions can draw users from search engine results. Crafting an engaging title means more than just adding keywords; it should capture what the page is about. Keep it short but descriptive, like “Elegant Summer Dresses – Affordable Fashion Online.” This approach catches users’ attention and clearly tells them what to expect. Ensure the titles aren’t too long so they appear fully in search results without getting cut off. Descriptions provide more details about your listing. A good meta description should highlight features and benefits. It should also mention why people should click on your listing instead of your competitors. Here’s a good example: “Discover our range of elegant summer dresses crafted from breathable fabrics for comfort and style. Perfect for any occasion, at prices you’ll love.” This has all the keywords, and it speaks to the customer. Keep it short, accurate and engaging. Writing great product descriptions Product descriptions sell your products. If you want to sell your products, you must invest plenty of time in writing great product descriptions. Start by understanding your target audience and use those insights to address their needs and concerns. Write naturally and incorporate all the keywords you want the product to rank for. Many sellers simply list features, but explaining these in context is better. Here’s an example: “This eco-friendly bamboo toothbrush is designed for comfort and sustainability, reducing your carbon footprint while providing a gentle clean.” By writing this way, you set your products apart from your competitors. Another way to make your products stand out is through storytelling or vivid language that paints a picture. Here’s one: “Imagine sipping your morning coffee from this handcrafted ceramic mug, its unique glaze reflecting the artisan’s touch.” Instead of simply listing details, you appeal to the buyer’s emotions. This also offers a way to make the shopping experience more personal. Whatever you do, try to avoid using the text provided by the manufacturer, as these will be used on thousands of sites. Try to make it unique for you and your customers. An example of a good product description for an Etsy item Using product specifications properly You must list specifications to help customers decide if they want to buy this specific product. It’s important to list these product specifications with care. Make sure to present details such as product identifiers, dimensions, materials, weight, and compatibility in a way that’s easy to scan. This makes it easy for customers to find the information they need quickly. It also helps search engines index your content more effectively. Including specifications can give customers more confidence in buying the product, as they know exactly what they are purchasing. Additionally, think about the unique features that specifications can highlight. For instance, computer shoppers would love to know what kind of processor a laptop has. Shoppers use these details to compare products based on specific technical attributes. Where applicable, use bullet points to present data clearly and concisely. Implementing Schema markup You can’t live without a schema markup if you want to improve your marketplace SEO. Schema markup adds structured data to your products, which helps search engines understand and interpret your products. If you do it well, your products might get rich results, like added star ratings, pricing, and availability. For instance, an item with a product and reviews markup might show a 4.8-star rating and price directly in Google. These listings appeal to customers and could lead to a better CTR. If you want to add schema to your products, you need to use specific types of markup relevant to your marketplace, such as Product, Review, and Offer schemas. Tools like Yoast SEO can implement schema code for you automatically. Whatever you do, don’t forget to test your structured data to make sure it’s correctly implemented and up-to-date. Properly set up products with structured data will get rich results in Google Use Yoast SEO for Shopify Working on your online store can be tiresome, but luckily, there are tools to help you. Yoast SEO for Shopify is a great app that makes managing it much easier. It has content optimization features, AI tools for creating awesome titles and meta descriptions, and many schema enhancements. Together, these features help your store’s visibility in search Conclusion to marketplace SEO For your marketplace to succeed, you need on-page SEO. Work on product visibility and engagement by improving images, creating clear meta tags, and refining product details. Tools like Yoast SEO for Shopify simplify this process. These methods can attract more visitors and improve your marketplace’s performance. The post Marketplace SEO tips to improve product listing visibility appeared first on Yoast. View the full article

Social listening is the art and science of monitoring what your buyers and potential customers are saying about: Your brandYour competitorsTopics related to your product or serviceStaying “in the know” about all these simultaneously is no easy feat. This is where social listening tools come in. They help you monitor brand mentions on major social media platforms, identify emerging trends in your niche, and package these online conversations into actionable insights for your social media strategy. In this article, I’ll share a list of six social listening tools (with alternatives) to help you choose the best software for your needs. Quick summary of the 6 best social listening toolsClick on one of the tools below to jump to a section, or scroll for a big-picture overview in the table. AnswerThePublicExploding TopicsSparkToroMentionBrand24Brandwatch Social listening tools Best for Price Top features Alternatives AnswerThePublic Affordable social listening Free for 3 searches/day. Paid plans from $5/month for 100 searches. Understand audience search behaviors. Supports platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and more. Organize and present research using high-res images or export as CSV. Google Alerts Answer Socrates Exploding Topics Finding trending topics Free plan available. Paid plans start at $39/month (billed annually). Spot trends before they go mainstream. Discover niche markets for your products. Receive trend alerts for emerging topics. Trendwatching TrendZeer SparkToro Deep audience insights Free plan for 5 searches/month. Paid plans start at $50/month. Understand audience interests and search behavior. Discover influencers and content preferences. Identify popular social media channels for your audience. BuzzSumo Talkwalker Mention Advanced analytics Starts at $49/month for up to 5,000 mentions. Track online conversations across multiple channels. Analyze sentiment of brand mentions. Compare your brand’s analytics with competitors. Keyhole Mentionlytics Brand24 Monitoring millions of online sources Starts at $149/month. Monitor mentions and detect negative sentiments. AI assistant for trend identification and actionable insights. Track media coverage across social media, news, blogs, and podcasts. Meltwater SentiOne Brandwatch Comprehensive tool for social media management and listening Pricing not publicly available. AI assistant for actionable insights. Access 1.7 trillion historical data points dating back to 2010. Upload custom data for monitoring trends. Awario Quid 6 top social listening tools in 2025The perfect social listening tools will help you track brand mentions and online conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry in the most relevant channels. Social media listening tools monitor social media conversations in major social networks. Some social listening tools extend this to include news sites, blogs, and forums. Which social listening tool you need depends on the channels your audience is most active in. For instance, you don’t need to invest in a social listening tool monitoring that tracks news sites if most of your buyers express their sentiments on social media. A social media listening tool would suffice in this instance. After you know which channels are the most important to you, it’ll be easier to narrow down the best social listening tools for your needs. 1. AnswerThePublicBest social listening tool for practicing affordable social listeningFree plan/trial: Free for three searches every day. You can also take a free 7-day trial of the paid plans. Price: Pricing starts at $5/month for 100 searches. Top features: Gain valuable insights about your audience by understanding what they’re searching forAvailable for major social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube), search engines (Google, Bing), and third-party websites (Amazon)Organize your research into folders and present them beautifully using high-resolution images, pruning search results that aren’t relevant conversations, and exporting results to CSVAnswerThePublic is a website where you can enter a topic, your brand name, your competitor’s name, or your product to get valuable insights about the questions people are asking on your query. Let’s say you sell skincare products that cure acne, now this is what your potential buyers are asking, according to AnswerThePublic: Now, you can create content around all of these questions to answer your audience’s pesky queries. AnswerThePublic isn’t a fancy tool with all the bells and whistles, but it’s the perfect choice for beginners and for those on a tight budget. It can help you add social listening into your social media plan without overwhelming you with tons of features. Alternatives: You can set up Google Alerts as your social media monitoring tool to track relevant online conversations and stay up-to-date with your brand reputation. It’s also the easiest way to find trending topics in your niche.Answer Socrates is also a great alternative for AnswerThePublic, but it only monitors online conversations on Google. It combines valuable consumer insights from Google Alerts, too.2. Exploding TopicsBest social listening tool for finding trending topicsFree plan/trial: Free plan available with limited functions. All paid plans have a 14-day free trial for $1. Price: Plans start at $39/month, billed annually. Top features: Find trending topics before they go mainstreamDiscover lesser known markets where your product can be valuableTrend tracking and alerts to know when a product or topic is about to become popularExploding Topics is a social listening tool dedicated to helping you find trending topics. You can use it to spot new competitors before they’ve become popular or the pain points of your customers before your rivals catch on. With the database of Exploding Topics, they also claim to discover emerging trends before anyone else. Alternatives: Trendwatching is another AI powered social listening tool that can help you uncover trends before they become common knowledge. Trendwatching leans more toward consumer trends, while Exploding Topics has social listening data in everything – including social media platforms, online conversations, etc.TrendZeer can be a good alternative if you need a social listening tool with a free plan. It does pretty much everything that Exploding Topics does, but the UI & UX is a bit outdated.3. SparkToroBest social listening tool for getting deep insights about your audienceFree plan/trial: Free plan available for five searches per month. Price: Paid plans begin at $50/month. Top features: Uncover insights about what your audience is searching for and what they’re interested inDiscover the key influencers your audience follows and the content they consumeLearn which social media channels are popular amongst your audienceSparkToro is one of the best social listening tools for conducting audience research on your ideal customer profile. It can help you understand the channels your target audience is most active in, which keywords they’re searching for, what podcasts they’re listening to, and which subreddits they’re browsing. All you have to do is enter a website your audience visits frequently or type in a keyword they search for. SparkToro’s benefits go beyond social listening. It can help you gain valuable insights about your audience that can aid in improving everything from your social media campaigns to your overall marketing strategy. Alternatives: BuzzSumo is one of the best replacement social media listening tools for SparkToro. Its focus isn’t on audience intelligence but more on helping you track mentions of your brand, identify the latest industry trends, and monitor competitor strategies.Talwalker is also a great alternative to SparkToro as a social listening tool. It can help you safeguard your brand reputation by conducting a sentiment analysis, finding trending topics in your niche, and monitoring customer sentiment in online conversations. It’s acquired by the social media management platform Hootsuite, so you can also combine those two tools to implement your marketing strategy with a single tool.4. MentionBest social listening tool for advanced analyticsFree plan/trial: No free plans. 14-day free trial available on paid plans. Price: Plans start at $49/month for tracking up to 5,000 mentions. Top features: Tracks online conversations in different social media channels — including Facebook, X, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTubeGet a sentiment analysis of the positive and negative mentions of your brand onlineObtain in-depth social media analytics of your own brand compared to a competitorLet’s get one thing out of the way right away: Mention isn’t one of the beginner-friendly social media listening tools. It’s designed for social media managers who have dedicated resources to invest in social listening. Mention can help you set up alerts for specific keywords and you can get historical data on those keywords for up to two years. You can monitor the mentions of these keywords in news sites, blogs, forums, Reddit, review sites, and even Radio & TV in the highest-tier plan. Lastly, you can also find key influencers and media mentions of your brand, identify emerging trends, and generate a comparative report against your competitors. Alternatives: Keyhole is one of the best social media listening tools for advanced analytics, just like Mention. You can set up alerts for social media posts with brand mentions & industry keywords to practice a proactive sentiment analysis. Keyhole also spots industry trends so you can take advantage of topics while they’re popular.Mentionlytics is another popular AI powered social listening tool that can be a great alternative to Keyhole. It also analyzes social media conversations, helps you identify trending topics, and scans review sites to pinpoint any negative sentiment.5. Brand24Best social listening tool for monitoring millions of online sourcesFree plan/trial: No free plan. 14-day free trial on all paid plans. Price: Plans start at $149/month. Top features: Monitor brand mentions and detect negative sentiments to protect brand reputationAI powered assistant to help you identify emerging trends, gather actionable insights, and moreTrack media coverage across a wide variety of channels, including social media, news sites, podcasts, blogs, etc.Brand24 is one of the most comprehensive social listening tools in the market. It claims to monitor your brand mentions, industry keywords, etc., from over 25 million online sources — including social media, podcasts, newsletters, blogs, videos, and forums. The whole tool is AI powered, so you can get reliable and actionable insights in real time. You can even track the impact of your social media campaigns if you’ve used specific hashtags in them. Brand24 can also give Brandwatch a run for its money because it can help discover key influencers and assign them a score based on their impact. The biggest disadvantage of Brand24 is its price. To access the most prized features, you need to upgrade from the Individual plan to the Team or Pro plan. It mostly makes sense for agencies who can justify the cost of an investment of this range. Alternatives: Meltwater is the slightly more powerful (and costlier) alternative social listening tool for Brand24. Its online sources aren’t limited to social media channels and news sites. Like Brand24, it also includes podcasts and blogs. In fact, Meltwater also monitors brand mentions on TV and radio to help you get the full picture.SentiOne is a smaller version of Brand24 when it comes to social listening tools. SentiOne has over five million online sources and offers unlimited keyword monitoring.6. BrandwatchBest social listening tool for those who want social media management, influencer marketing, and social listening in one toolFree plan/trial: Not available. Price: Not publicly available. Top features: AI powered assistant — Iris — to turn the actionable insights you gather into an easy read1.7 trillion historical data — conversations that date back to 2010You can upload your own data to monitor trendsBrandwatch is a one-of-a-kind social media listening tool because it also offers a social media management software and an influencer marketing tool under its umbrella. So it should be no surprise that while its plans aren’t publicly available, it comes with a hefty price tag. Think of it as spending money on the convenience of combining three tools into one. Specific to its social listening tools, Brandwatch has a four-step process: Collect online conversations about your industry trends, keywords, and brand mentionsSegment it into categories like feedback, complaints, opinions, etc.Use Brandwatch’s AI powered abilities to conduct an overarching sentiment analysis of your categoriesEquip your marketing strategy with the insights you’ve gatheredBrandwatch’s UI can take a bit of a learning curve, but after that initial hump it’s all roses and data. Lots of data. Alternatives: Awario is one of the best social listening tools in the market and a good alternative to Brandwatch if you aren’t looking to combine social media management and influencer marketing features. Awario crawls 13 billion webpages daily (social and online data) to help you gain valuable insights about your potential customers.Quid also has a suite of AI powered products that make it one of the most powerful social listening tools. Quid Monitor can help you with social media monitoring, Quid Discover can help you uncover insights about your customers that are buried deep, and Quid Predict can help you spot trending topics.Your social listening strategy should include more than the top social listening toolsSocial listening appears simple on the surface: Find what customers are talking about. However, it takes more than a tool to keep up with the ever-changing expectations and pain points of your target audience. You have to use social listening tools in conjunction with real 1:1 customer conversations, staying part of relevant communities & forums, and having content sources to always have an ear to the ground. Looking to understand how you can add a social listening strategy to your overall marketing strategy? Read our guide on how to practice social listening. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. People are bouncing on yoga balls during Zoom calls I’m at an all-remote company. Zooms are our go-to. In the Zooms I organize, I prefer videos off and most people know that. (So I don’t have to do my hair or get distracted, and it just drains me so much!) Obviously I make exceptions where called for. But I’m at the mercy of others when I join their meetings, and a lot of them have videos on as a default. And a few of my coworkers have recently started bouncing on yoga balls and walking on walking pads throughout their meetings. This makes me feel ill/seasick! And, then I feel really irritated at them, unfairly, because they’re making the meeting more difficult for me. Will I seem overly nitpicky, grumpy, irritable if I ask them to just do videos off when they do this? I don’t have a medical condition like vertigo or anything. I’m one of the most senior execs in the company, FYI, and the people who do this are all my level or below. (None of them report to me directly.) As a senior exec, you absolutely have the standing to say, “Kudos to anyone choosing to exercise during this call, but please turn your camera off if that’s you. The movement is rough on the rest of us.” And if that doesn’t solve it, feel free to direct it to specific people — “Jane, can you turn your camera off, please? The activity is distracting.” Frankly, it’s obnoxious (and maybe a little performative?) that people aren’t figuring this out for themselves and need to be told, and I bet others on the call will be silently thanking you. You also probably won’t have to do this a ton; it’s the kind of message most people will retain after being told once. Related: is it unprofessional to take a Zoom call from a treadmill? 2. Employer wants to offer paid parental leave — but only for women My employer is thinking about joining the modern working era and offering paid parental leave. But … only to women. As you can imagine, the reception is mixed. On one hand, we’re excited to possibly finally have something. On the other, many staff feel like this devalues a) the role of fathers, b) the responsibility of men to care for their children and partners, and c) the role of women in the workplace generally (after all, why promote a woman who might need this leave when a man definitely won’t?). We’ve clarified that adoptive moms would qualify, so physical recovery is not the sole issue. The employer is hinting loudly that we should be grateful that he is doing “more than he legally has to” and that he might drop it entirely if we push too hard. Any thoughts on next steps? Well, it’s illegal. Offering different amounts of parental leave to male and female employees violates the federal law against sex discrimination (just like basing vacation leave or raises on sex would). It would be different if it were framed as “pregnancy leave” or otherwise linked to medical recovery, but it’s not. So: the strongest argument against this is that it’s illegal. Of course, if you point that out, your employer might drop the whole thing — so you should pair it with a strong lobbying effort by employees for a legal, gender-neutral parent leave policy. If you can show that your competitors offer that, that could help too. Related: my company is creating a paternity leave policy, but has no maternity leave 3. My company is ignoring my reimbursement form after laying me off I was laid off from a remote job in November 2024. I was told to ship my laptop back, given a paid shipping label and told to purchase packaging at the shipping store and submit a receipt for reimbursement. I submitted the form for reimbursement with a receipt the same day … then heard nothing. Every few weeks I would send an email asking about the reimbursement status and would hear nothing. On the emails I’ve included my manager, my manager’s manager, and the HR representative who handled my layoff. It’s been two months and no one replies to emails (which have all been cordial). The amount of money ($30) isn’t a big deal but I’m frustrated that I followed their directions and then they’re not honoring their commitment. Also them not reimbursing me after laying me off is just rude and petty! Any other ideas about what I can do? For context, I also signed an NDA so I probably can’t make a post on social media publicly calling anyone out. Stop emailing and call instead! Start with HR, and if that doesn’t work, call your manager, then your manager’s manager. If you get voicemail, leave a message explaining the situation; say that it’s been several months, and ask to get it handled ASAP. They should be replying to your emails and it’s rude that they haven’t, but one when method of communication isn’t working, moving to another will often solve it. (And who knows, it’s possible that emails from your personal email address are being filtered as spam or something. Probably not, but calling will solve it if that’s happening.) 4. Can my company completely change my job? I am an executive assistant at a remote-first organization. There is currently no requirement to come into our office, with the exception of our front desk staff (who belong to a separate department). I have been told confidentially that due to financial constraints, a plan is in place to lay off our front desk staff and require myself and another executive assistant to perform the duties usually performed by our front desk staff (in addition to our current duties). This change would mean that I would have a completely different role than what I was hired to do, not to mention what I see as the extreme burden of being one of the only employees in a remote organization with an in-office requirement, and the significant extra work. Can they legally do this? What can I do to resist this change, other than simply walking away from a job that I really don’t want to quit? We have a union in place, which I have been told I am unable to join due to the confidential nature of my job. Would appealing to the union anyway have any influence? They can legally change the requirements of your job. You can push back on that, of course — but ultimately they can make the change. The union probably won’t help since you’re not a member (unless they see benefit to their membership in some way, which isn’t impossible — you can certainly ask them and see). How much standing do you have at your job? Are you a highly valued employee who they don’t want to lose? Or even a reasonably valued one who they don’t want to deal with the inconvenience of replacing? If you have a decent amount of standing, your best bet is to talk to your manager and say exactly what you said here — the change would leave you with a completely different job than the one you were hired for and significant additional burden — and that you’re strongly opposed to doing it. The trick with this kind of conversation is to walk a fine enough line that you’re not outright refusing or openly saying “I will quit over this” but leaving the strong implication that you are indeed highly likely to leave over it (maybe not on the spot, but soon). On the other hand, if you’re willing to openly say you’ll quit over it and are comfortable with whatever that results in (including “okay, we’ll be sorry to see you go but let’s set your last day”), go for it. There’s a possibility they’ll see this as an opportunity to hire a replacement who’s willing to do the new job, so this is all very dependent on how much capital you have there, how willing you are to walk away over it, how quickly you’d be willing to do that, and how much they’d care. If the other assistant affected by this is willing to do the same, that can give you additional power, particularly if she has capital of her own to spend. 5. What is a “director of first impressions”? I’m on the job market. I’ve been in higher ed. administration for years (also a teacher), and I’m done with it. All I want to do is help people, help an organization function well, get paid / treated decently, and stay with a good job until I retire, if ever. I’ve been on the market for roughly four months with little luck. I had one interview, which I think went well, but I didn’t get the position. Part of it, I think, is that I’m “overqualified” for the kind of role I’m looking for. The thing is, I don’t want to be in charge. I hate being in charge. I make an excellent assistant. But then I see job adverts for things like a “director of first impressions”: “The director of first impressions will play an important role in setting the tone for the organization. As the first person and last person clients see when they are in the office, the director of first impressions is instrumental in making sure clients have a positive experience. Ability to work in a high capacity, high intensity position is a must, while maintaining a joyful and diplomatic spirit. Multitasking is necessary also, as this position is characterized by spontaneity and being ready for any phone call or visit. You will be the direct source of office support leadership, while maintaining office supplies and managing the calendar.” Good lord. I don’t even know how to respond seriously to this. Is this a receptionist role? Okay, I can work with that. Director of first impressions? I cannot. Yep, it’s a receptionist role, with what sounds like some additional admin support thrown in. It’s a silly title, but it’s usually the sign of an organization trying to put a high premium on you making visitors and callers feel warmly welcomed and taken care of. As in, they’re not looking for the vibe visitors get at the DMV. The best way to approach it is to ignore the title and focus on the job duties. View the full article

Struggling to keep workloads balanced and maintain a steady output of work? Kanban is the answer. Here's how to make use of Kanban practices like work-in-progress limits and workflow visualization to measure and adjust team member capacity, meet deadlines, and keep stakeholders happy. The post Kanban Capacity Planning: 8 Steps For Balanced Workloads appeared first on The Digital Project Manager. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: A few years ago, I got a promotion in a different country. The organization I had previously worked at went through a re-structure and my position was eliminated. My good friend Suzie was promoted into a position that was very similar to my former position, but higher on the org chart and with more responsibility. We stayed in touch, mostly as friends, but with cheerleading and mentoring from the sidelines too. This role was a big jump in responsibility for Suzie; she essentially leapfrogged quite a few positions. Complicating matters is the fact that the organization is an incredibly toxic work environment. Decades of very poor decisions and bullying behavior from senior management means there is a lot of distrust and a real us vs. them culture. It is really not possible for someone in Suzie’s position to do much about the culture; without meaningful change from the board and higher-ups, things will not change. For these reasons, I knew that Suzie would have challenges, but she had worked for the org for a long time, knew what she was in for, and has always been confident in her abilities as a manager. Over the years, Suzie will sometimes call to vent, and I’ve always supported her. When she brought in a new policy that was not well received, I empathized; that group of employees never reacts to change well. You do the best you can to make everyone feel their complaints are heard, and then you tell them that the decision is made and they need to move on. When she needed to take some time off and “have a break” and people were grumbling about her taking PTO, I told her she deserved her PTO and should model a good work-life balance for her team. When she started to feel like everyone hated her and was always criticizing her, I told her not to worry; she’s the face of a problem culture, and she needs to just do her best to be fair and a good leader, and try not to take it personally when people who are traumatized and miserable can’t see her efforts. I thought my advice was solid, based on my knowledge of Suzie and the company. But I’ve just moved back to the city, and realized I’m quite off-base. I’ve heard from many former colleagues, and seen evidence myself, that Suzie is, well, a bit of a mess. She has made some appalling decisions and displayed really questionable judgement. That policy she made? She didn’t get any feedback before she created it or rolled it out, and it’s caused huge problems and slowed down processes across the org. When people try to raise it with her, they’re told “the decision has been made and they just need to move on.” That PTO she took? It was in the middle of a huge and important project. Pipelines got stuck because she wasn’t there to approve and give feedback, and hadn’t set up a contingency approval structure. Then to add insult to injury, she posted photos all over social media of herself at what was basically a sex festival. (No judgment of what she does in her spare time, but it’s not really a restful weekend, and posting it was very tone-deaf. It’s also really not aligned with the values of the org.) People are demonstrably more unhappy now than they were when I was there, and they feel their complaints are never heard or taken seriously. Many people have left, so those who are still there are burnt out and feeling incredibly unsupported. I realize I’ve contributed to the problem indirectly, because I’ve been Suzie’s champion and encouraged her decisions. My question is two-fold. First, what can I do from my position of unofficial mentor to get Suzie to be more aware of her actions, especially when she’s used to hearing nothing but encouragement from me? And secondly, how can I avoid this in the future? I realize now that whenever I give advice to people, it’s always based on their perspective of the issue, and I don’t have the nuance to give informed advice or opinions. To some extent this is always an issue with advice-giving; you’re only hearing one side of the story and it may be biased or missing important details. You can try to dig by asking questions like, “What do you think Person X’s perspective is, and why do you think they think that?” But some people will always be unreliable narrators and you won’t always be able to spot them. (Sometimes that’s intentional on their side; they want sympathy and support and so shape the way they tell the story to get that. Other times, people just don’t realize what details would be important to mention; we see that all the time in letters here.) When you give advice, you can caveat it with “There may be internal politics in your company that would change this” or “Based just on what you’re saying and without knowing the perspectives of other people involved” … but it’s never going to be perfect, because people are imperfect narrators. However! I do think it’s worth asking whether you leaned into supporting Suzie unconditionally without questioning her version of things at all. It’s really easy to do that when you know someone’s employer sucks; when management is incompetent, it makes it easy to assume they’re always wrong and the person you like is always right. Plus, you wanted to be supportive of a friend. But since you’re reassessing it now, you could look at whether you overlooked facts that should have jumped out more or if you dismissed things that didn’t sound quite right. If you realize that you did, that’s useful info for next time (with anyone, not just with Suzie). There’s also a question of whether you were trying to be more mentor than friend. A mentor does have a responsibility to not only cheerlead, but also to point out blind spots and nudge when someone’s perspective might benefit from a shift. Personally, I believe good friends should do that too … but with a casual friend, I don’t think you’re as obligated to do what can be fairly heavy lifting. Still, though, you don’t want to feel like you’ve encouraged bad decisions, which it sounds like is ultimately what happened here. So the takeaway might be to remind yourself that you never have the full scope of a story you’re hearing secondhand, that there might be other perspectives in play, and that most people can benefit from advice that encourages them to consider how someone else might tell the story. As for how to approach Suzie on all this now … one option is to start asking things like, “How do you think Person X would tell their side of it?” and “If you wanted to make your staff feel more heard, what would help?” and “What input are you getting internally on this?” And you can start saying things like, “I can’t say for sure that this is what’s going on, but it sounds to me like…” and “Hmmm, the other way to look at this is…” or “I was once struggling with this and it turned out I’d overlooked X.” Who knows, maybe she’ll find that helpful! But whether she does or doesn’t, I think you’ll feel like you’re engaging more responsibly with a situation that you now realize you don’t know as well as you thought! View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. A reader writes: I recently had to fire a manager for a belligerent, profanity-laden outburst during a board meeting. He has not been doing his job and has been suspected to be drinking or have been drunk while working (although no proof). To further complicate things, his manager has not done his job by documenting the problems and is now pushing me to provide some sort of severance for good will. However, I feel we have a termination with cause for insubordination. What is your suggestion on whether we need to pay severance in this instance? He is talking to a lawyer regarding a possible hostile workplace or wrongful termination lawsuit. I answer this question — and two others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. Other questions I’m answering there today include: My employee gave her puppy the same unusual name as a coworker’s new baby How can I see what I’ll have to sign as a new employee before I accept an offer? View the full article

Are there ways to add on other services? Of course. By Jody Padar Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA Go PRO for members-only access to more Jody Padar. View the full article

Are there ways to add on other services? Of course. By Jody Padar Radical Pricing – By The Radical CPA Go PRO for members-only access to more Jody Padar. View the full article

Three ways to prepare. By Ed Mendlowitz Tax Season Opportunity Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Edward Mendlowitz. View the full article

Three ways to prepare. By Ed Mendlowitz Tax Season Opportunity Guide Go PRO for members-only access to more Edward Mendlowitz. View the full article